Graphic.ly Announces $3 Million in New Funding

Digital comics retailer Graphic.ly announced Tuesday that the company had secured $3 million in investment capital from such firms as DFJ Mercury, 500 Startups, Dundee VC, Ludlow Ventures and a number of angel investors. The money represents Graphic.ly's first round of outside funding and is intended to facilitate additional feature development on the platform, including audio commentaries, video, music and "interactive panels."

"In 2010, we focused on bringing our community to as many digital comic publishers and creators we could, on every platform in existence, and they responded by downloading more than 600,000 copies of our applications in less than 5 months, and spending more than 20 minutes per visit." said Baldwin. "In 2011, we are taking what we excelled in and combining it with our new funding to bring a greater immersive social experience and new ways to engage with the story and characters."

Supported on desktop computers with Windows 7 or Adobe Air and mobile devices running Apple's iOS, Windows 7 Phone and Android, Graphic.ly offers digital comics from publishers including Archie Comics, Archaia, IDW Publishing, Top Cow and BOOM! Studios. Additionally, Graphic.ly is presently the only digital comics platform with which customers can download and read Marvel titles on their desktop computers, as opposed to via the Web or on a mobile device.

While other digital retailers operate more or less as just that -- a virtual comic book store -- Graphic.ly places an emphasis on the concept of community. To that end, the company purchased comics news and community site iFanboy and the Graphic.ly platform allows users to publish commentaries within digital comics that other users may elect to read (although the value of that feature is somewhat in question).

For more recent developments in digital comics, check out ComicsAlliance's Digital December series.